''Protea laevis'', also known as the smooth-leaf sugarbush, is a flowering

shrub A shrub (often also called a bush) is a small-to-medium-sized perennial woody plant. Unlike herbaceous plants, shrubs have persistent woody stems above the ground. Shrubs can be either deciduous or evergreen. They are distinguished from trees ...

that belongs within the genus '' Protea''. In the

Afrikaans language Afrikaans (, ) is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language that evolved in the Dutch Cape Colony from the Dutch dialects, Dutch vernacular of Holland, Holland proper (i.e., the Hollandic dialect) used by Dutch, French, and German set ...

it is known by the vernacular names of ''gladdeblaardwergprotea'' or ''gladde-blaarsuikerbos''.

Taxonomy

''Protea laevis'' was first described by Robert Brown in his 1810 treatise ''

On the Proteaceae of Jussieu ''On the natural order of plants called Proteaceae'', also published as "On the Proteaceae of Jussieu", was a paper written by Robert Brown on the taxonomy of the plant family Proteaceae. It was read to the Linnean Society of London in the first q ...

''.

Description

The plant takes the form of a prostrate shrub. The main stem is subterranean. It grows up to in diameter. The above-ground branches are up to over long, glabrous, prostrate, sometimes ascending. It has forms with narrow leaves, as well as forms possessing much broader leaves. It blooms in late Spring, from September to February, with the peak from September to November. The plant is

monoecious Monoecy (; adj. monoecious ) is a sexual system in seed plants where separate male and female cones or flowers are present on the same plant. It is a monomorphic sexual system alongside gynomonoecy, andromonoecy and trimonoecy. Monoecy is conne ...

with both sexes in each flower. The seed is stored in a capsule within the woody, dried

inflorescence An inflorescence is a group or cluster of flowers arranged on a stem that is composed of a main branch or a complicated arrangement of branches. Morphologically, it is the modified part of the shoot of seed plants where flowers are formed o ...

, which is itself retained on the shrub after it is dead ('persistent'). The seeds are usually released one to two years after flowering and dispersed through by means of the wind.

Distribution

This plant is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...

to the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It occurs from the

Cederberg The Cederberg mountains are located near Clanwilliam, approximately 300 km north of Cape Town, South Africa at about . The mountain range is named after the endangered Clanwilliam cedar (''Widdringtonia wallichii''), which is a tree end ...

to the

Hex River Mountains The Hex River Mountains ( af, Hexrivierberge) make up the second highest mountain range in the Western Cape province of South Africa and are located 120 kilometres (75 miles) north-east of Cape Town. They form part of a large anticline in the Ca ...

and Waboomsberg (which is one of the

Koue Bokkeveld Mountains The Koue Bokkeveld, meaning "Cold Buck Shrubland" in Afrikaans, is a mountain range in the Western Cape Province, South Africa. Geologically the range is composed of Cedarberg Sandstone of the Cape System. Location and extent It is located above ...

). It occurs below the Langeberg in the Cederberg Mountains and on Hansiesberg in the Skurweberg Range of the Koue Bokkeveld Mountains.

Ecology

Pollination Pollination is the transfer of pollen from an anther of a plant to the stigma of a plant, later enabling fertilisation and the production of seeds, most often by an animal or by wind. Pollinating agents can be animals such as insects, birds ...

occurs through the action of rats, mice and birds. The plant grows in dry, rocky, mountain ledges at altitudes of 1000 to 1800 metres. Potential

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s destroy the adult plants, but the seeds are able to survive such events.

Conservation

It is rare, and usually found as solitary individuals or in isolated, small groups of less than two dozen plants. The population numbers are thought to be stable.

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q18080116 laevis